Researchers are determining whether consciousness is a by-product of brain activity. Projects like blue brain aim to make this question something we can answer.
Can you expand on what assumptions we make that are in no way provable?
Can you expand on what assumptions we make that are in no way provable?
Blue Brain is a great project and will hopefully lead to many surprising discoveries, however how will it help us distinguish between a truly conscious entity and one that merely acts conscious?
The point is how can you ever verify that two beings react exactly the same to all stimuli? How are you determining "no measurable difference"? Setting aside the fact that silicon is measurably different from neural tissue, you still aren't any closer to answering the question "does the machine experience consciousness the same way I do as a result of its function?"
Let's just pretend that we run all the arguments for and against qualia from that article against each other and declare us all losers in advance.
Now, assuming a large number of tests have been performed and there is a consensus they have no practical difference, why would you conclude that consciousness is not derived from brain structure?